Yep. Back then it was a form of non-volatile memory. Maintained what was on it after power off.
Ken On Tue, Apr 25, 2023 at 9:38 AM Paul Koning <paulkon...@comcast.net> wrote: > > > > On Apr 25, 2023, at 9:25 AM, KenUnix via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > wrote: > > > > Rod, > > > > Never heard the singing. Switch room's were too noisy. > > > > It always amazed me that those core planes were hand wired. I guess by > > little people. Or, big people with little hands. > > People (often women I think) with steady hands. I think the setup used a > work surface with notches in it corresponding to the positions of each > core. They would pour a cup full of cores onto that and use gentle shaking > and vibrating to get all those notches filled, then pour off the excess. > Next, threading the cores much like you thread a needle -- except that the > wire is stiffer than thread and thus easier to make it go straight through. > > One wonders if this could have been done by machine. Probably yes, but > given the volumes involved I suppose the capital investment wasn't > justified. > > The more amazing kind of hand-wired core is core ROM, where the wires > weave in and out of various cores according to the required bit pattern. > Getting that right seems like a far more complicated craft. > > paul > > > -- End of line JOB TERMINATED Okey Dokey
